La León Feria Estatal (The León State Fair) runs for the month of January and offered us a huge variety of new discoveries on our first days in Mexico. Join us!

La León Feria Estatal (The León State Fair) runs for the month of January and offered us a huge variety of new discoveries on our first days in Mexico. Join us!
How do you get 3 people, 3 cats, 3 musical instruments and multiple suitcases and bags to Mexico to start a new life? You drive. 37 HOURS.
Beto (Bob) is developing his video editing skills, and working on putting the many videos he has made over the past year of traveling in Europe and then Mexico up onto the Messy Suitcase YouTube Channel!
After toting his GoPro all over Mexico, and now Vermont, plus the drives back and forth, he’s just learning how to edit the footage, so please be patient, and feel to comment with words of encouragement. Each video will get better, and they will be packed with fascinating info and our illuminating comments and observations.
We’ll hope you’ll follow our the Messy Suitcase YouTube Channel, and ring the bell to be notified as we put more videos up. We are also open to new ideas!
Enjoy the video Why Guadalajara?
Bob and I just did our first almost 1-er in Burlington! (As opposed to the multiple 14ers Bob did back in Colorado.)
We hiked up Mt. Philo on a recent Sunday while visiting Burlington for Champlain College Family Weekend. Mt. Philo State Park, which sits atop 968-foot Mt. Philo about 13 miles south of Burlington, was created as Vermont’s first Vermont State Park in 1924. With 237 acres offering breathtaking views of the Lake Champlain Valley and New York’s Adirondack Mountains, the park is a favorite of local hikers, picnickers, and even college students.
The hike was short but steep and challenging. The view of the Vermont countryside and Lake Champlain from the top was spectacular. We also found inspirational poetry at the top …
… and we loved the message in the field below.
There are several camping sites at the top, as well as a group cabin, and we were surprised to see they were not in use. The best part was the Adirondack chairs that beckoned us to sit and enjoy the beautiful day and the view.
We met a couple of artists on our way down painting the view with watercolors.
By Lisa Hamm-Greenawalt
Beto and I recently had the lucky opportunity to take a lovely, relaxing fall foliage ride on the Green Mountain Flyer, a scenic ride on a vintage train from Chester to Rockingham in southern Vermont. The train whistle blasted our eardrums to oblivion as the ancient train noisily announced its arrival at Chester Depot. The bright red engine was pulling about five dark green cars, each labeled Green Mountain Railroad.
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I tried to digitally capture the roaming engineer and musician Bill Brink, but you can see the jerking motion of the train did not allow for quality pictures. |
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River gorge photo taken from a moving train |
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The new truck with topper, right before the accident |
We have two saxophones here in Mexico. Because I routinely
play an alto, I keep it on a stand. Unfortunately, one night the nocturnal cat
activities got a little too rambunctious and they knocked my sax onto the hard
tile floor. My sax had some damage and needed to go into the repair shop.
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The sign says: Repair of All Types of Woodwind instruments, including Clarinets, Trumpets, trombones and Saxophones, Gold-Plated, Nickel, Chrome |
Bob’s happy saxophone |
Lexie’s rejuvenated bari sax |
Lex and I returned on Thursday, and as promised the
saxophones were ready. I took mine out and played a few notes. It sounded good.
Today we traveled to the corazon (heart) of Mexico to see the iconic statue of Cristo Rey. This imposing bronze statue of Christ the King, 75 feet tall and rising 8,461 feet above sea level at Mexico’s geographical center, looms from atop a mountain above the town of Silao called El Cubillo
del Cubilete.
The monumental Christ of the Mountain was created in art deco style by artist Nicholas Mariscal in 1944 to honor the struggle of Christians during a period of religious persecution in the early 1900s.
In the words of former Mexican President Vicente Fox, the statue serves as a “rebuke to the suppressors of religious freedom” who sought to quash the Church during the persecution of Christians in Mexico during the first half of the twentieth century.
Sanctuary |
Golden crown for Christ the King |
Our family and Javier enjoying dinner |
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By Lisa Hamm-Greenawalt
We recently had the privilege of visiting a pottery workshop called Mayolica Santa Rosa, where a family business turns out breathtaking, intricate, handmade pottery lovingly
created with dedicated fingers and devoted hearts.
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The sign over the door of the store |
The big white box on the left is the oven |
The artist at work |
Before firing in the oven |
Seen outside the door to the painting room |
The entrance to the showroom |
This fresco, outside the family’s home next door, is a great example of their work. |
I just discovered several beautiful pieces of Mayolica pottery in our apartment, Casa Estrellita, at Casa Estrella. (Watch for a blog about the amazing art in our apartment!)
And I found this beautiful tile wall art by Mayolica Pottery in the fitness center at Casa Estrella. Enjoy!
Our loyalty to Guadalajara won us GDLt-shirts at a promo event in Lake Chapala last weekend! |